December 2, 2020

Radical Wonder

Last year, I applied for a grant focused on women owned start-ups. Most of the questions were boilerplate and easily answered. But the final question stumped me “When was the last time that you experienced radical wonder?”

When was the last time I experienced “radical wonder”?

Over the past 20 years I have tried to lean into living what I would describe as a conscious life – but the question challenged that notion. I crafted a forgettable response, made a note to myself to explore the concept, and tucked it away in my file drawer.

A few weeks ago as I started to pen this post I pulled out my note and spent some time reflecting over the past few months.

When the world as we knew it shut down we were all forced to go within to find some peace. Many things struck me at the time, but one of my most vivid memories was the afternoon bike rides I began to take through Lake Forest, and down to Highland Park, each afternoon at 3 pm. As my sister’s sole person of contact, and without the option of a health club, this afternoon bike ride became both a point of connection with her and also my daily exercise.

Each day as I cycled home after seeing her, I stopped at the top of my street which has a slight incline and cruised into my home. Those last 5 minutes of my bike ride transported me back to the freedom I experienced as a 12 year old, and magnified the stillness of the environment. Without the daily rush of other activity, I entered into that moment able to notice the breeze, the stillness, the birds, the sky and experienced what I would call the radical wonder of creation.

As I reflected on those moments, I asked my friend and Pastor, Sean Miller, to share his perspective of radical wonder, as we head into a holiday season fret with uncertainty coupled with the anticipation of joy.

His thoughts are below..

There is so much about life during the holiday season that is usually quite predictable. Like the phases of the moon, we wax and wane between enjoying holiday gatherings—to complaining about them—to longing for the past when things were “simpler”—to coasting into January resolving to lose 10 pounds. Except, not this year. Not in 2020.

Instead, this year we are limping into “the most wonderful time of the year,” having taken a big red X to most of our beloved traditions, and if we are going to complain, it is not going to be about having too much to do. So where do we go from here on the first day, of the last month, of this upside down year?

As a person of faith, I see a season full of opportunity. I look into this month full of newfound time, and plenty of white space on the calendar, and I find plenty of room for what Meg calls “radical wonder.”

There is nothing radical about wonder, per se. After all, isn’t wonder what little kids do, and not grown-ups. Surely, when you’re all grown up, you know that you just don’t have time to wonder when you’re too busy accomplishing, doing, complaining, and working.

But why? I believe that without wonder, faith is little more than an intellectual exercise. Without wonder, faith is a topic for conversation and not a way of life. Without wonder, faith is dry and lifeless, stodgy and stiff.

And if is the ‘assurance of things hoped for, and the confidence in things not seen,’ then faith and wonder go hand in hand.

So this season, with less to “do,” I plan to find time for wonder—right sizing my own life, my problems, worries, and dreams, into a star-filled universe unfolding before me, clinging to a faith that there is a light that shines in the darkness, and that the darkness cannot overcome it.

And these days, that may be a radical thing to do.

As we close out 2020 together, we invite you to take a moment to look up not out and see where the spirit leads you.

Wishing all of you a Happy Holiday!